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Hello, Goodbye to the ‘Stick

Last December 2013, the San Francisco Bay Area and all of its San Francisco 49er fans said goodbye to Candlestick Park.

I’m not going to regale you about how much little I know of Candlestick. Truth be told, I’m a Raiders fan. (Yeah, yeah, boo hisssss, heard it alllll before.) I’ve been to the Oakland Coliseum 20 times more than I’ve been to Candlestick. But to be fair, I went to Candlestick before I ever stepped foot in the Coliseum — and that was for my first ever baseball game which was back in the 80’s when the SF Giants still played there, too.

But I digress.

The point is, the SF 49ers used to play there. They won a bunch of Super Bowls (that’s five) while they were playing there. Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Steve Young, Jimmy Johnson…these are names that have worn the red and gold uniform — names even those people who aren’t into sports have at least heard of. Thus, I felt kind of nostalgic about the decision to demolish Candlestick Park and move the 49ers to Santa Clara (oh, and the drive would be further to see a game.)

But while I was nostalgic, the boyfriend was downright…sentimental. Emotional. Heavy-breathing kind of stuff.

So, as one of his Christmas presents, I bought us tickets to the last game at the ‘Stick.

Yeah, it was freakishly expensive, thank god for end of year bonuses to allow for impulse “I-love-you-this-much” moments. But I’ve got to admit, there was some magic there, especially since the 49ers were down with only 1:31 left in the game with the ball in Matt Ryan’s hand — and it was only by that one heart-stopping moment with NaVorro Bowman making an impressive pick and returning it for 89-yards that made me believe in game time magic and had me cheering like a mad diggity crazy eyes fan. It is now famously known as “The Pick at the ‘Stick”.